Jane Hamilton Movies
- 2004
Shy, self-effacing newlywed Ruth (Nicholle Tom) manages to coerce her husband Artie (Stephen E. Miller) to move into the home of Ruth's domineering mother Maylene (Christine Lahti). Throughout Ruth's life, the bitter, vindictive Maylene has fed into her daughter's insecurities, making the girl feel homely and worthless. Perverse though it may seem, this was the only way that Maylene was ever able to express her love -- and the only way that she has been able to bind her daughter to her so that she herself will never feel lonely and abandoned. As the story progresses, Ruth grows progressively stronger and self-assertive, not only able but willing to heal the wounds of her troubled childhood. Conversely, her supposedly stalwart husband exposes his own weaknesses and failings. Based on the Oprah Book Club selection by Jane Hamilton, the made-for-TV The Book of Ruth debuted May 2, 2004, on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christine Lahti, Nicholle Tom, (more)
In this contemporary drama, Sigourney Weaver plays a woman out of her element and at the end of her rope. Alice Goodwin is a wife and mother who finds that the pressures of her life are starting to become more than she can bear. Alice works part-time as a school nurse while her husband Howard (David Strathairn) runs the family farm; they both look after their two daughters. Alice, who wasn't raised in farm country, still feels like an outsider, and she embraces a cynical, sarcastic humor as a defense mechanism. Alice's only real friends in town are Dan and Theresa Collins (Ron Lea and Julianne Moore), who live nearby and often babysit Alice's kids; Alice does the same for the Collins children as well. One day, while watching Theresa's two-year-old daughter Lizzie, Alice has to step away for a few minutes, and she returns to discover Lizzie has fallen into a pond near the house; the child falls into a coma and dies several days later. Lizzie's death puts a permanent wedge between Alice and Theresa, and most people in the community believe Alice is to blame for the girl's death. Any support she might have had is driven away when Robbie (Marc Donato), a boy who lives nearby, claims Alice molested him. Alice is sent to jail while awaiting trial, and Howard (who can't afford her $100,000 bail) must watch over their daughters and keep house by himself as he tries to keep the farm afloat. As Alice falls into a deep depression behind bars, Howard and Theresa begin edging into a romance. Based on the best-selling novel by Jane Hamilton, A Map of the World was adapted for the screen by Peter Hedges and Polly Platt and director Scott Elliott. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sigourney Weaver, Julianne Moore, (more)
